Lima Mayor Sharetta Smith says it's time to put the carrot in front of the stick and fix up neighborhoods in the city. The stick? The information that was gathered during her walking the wards initiative. The carrot? New housing repair programs to entice homeowners to fix up their property. Requirements for some current programs have been loosened and the "better together" and "safe at home" programs have been introduced. Both offer homeowners a chance to make major improvements.

Tuesday's meeting focused on the determination of goals and objectives, the creation of a mission and vision, and the finalization of the strategic plan for the LCIC. Some plans they have drafted include improving houses in poor condition, demolition of abandoned properties, development of programs to promote home ownership, improvement of infrastructure, and the construction of neighborhood amenities such as parks and gardens.

The program is called Make it Home and Lima was one of 13 municipalities nationwide selected by the Center for Community Progress to see if they can copy the success of the program in Detroit. Other cities that were picked are Atlanta, Louisville, Cleveland, and Milwaukee from a diverse group of applicants. The program takes rental properties that are being foreclosed on and the owner cannot maintain control of and helps the renters purchase them and become homeowners themselves.

The city has $1,087,241 in the Community Development Block Grant funding, which is a little less than last year, and $316,176 HOME funds to disperse. The Home money goes towards programs that involved affordable housing, and the CDBG funds also are for affordable housing and community development programs. The city got 19 proposals requesting $4.2 million dollars, which is $2.7 million more than the money they have available. So, some programs saw a reduction in their funding or didn’t get approved for funding at all. 

The Community Improvement Corporation is part of Mayor Sharetta Smith's focus to improve housing in the city. The board is made up of 12 people including members of the city’s administration and elected officials, Lima School Board, community members, and members of the chambers of commerce. The first meeting basically set up the by-laws for the Community Improvement Corporation and elected the president and other office holders for the board. In future meetings, the work will begin in revitalizing Lima’s neighborhoods.

The ideas generated from the meeting will be used to create the Better Together Plan. Some areas that were brought up include safe and livable neighborhoods, quality housing, and infrastructure improvements. The administration and Lima City Council will use that information to create a blueprint for funding future projects.

The city getting just over 26-million dollars to spend on issues that came up due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are inviting the public to attend a citywide meeting and take a short online survey to get a better feel on what people want to see as a result.

Lima’s Community Development Director Susan Crotty adds, “We try to be understanding of the situation, but our code does require that within 4-hours of daylight after the snow has fallen that the snow and ice be removed from the sidewalks.”

They have been short-staffed through most of this year but with the hiring of two new code enforcement inspectors, they will be able to address more maintenance concerns. The city is divided into 4-sectors assigned to a specific inspector along with a property maintenance supervisor. While they monitor properties for code violations like high grass, excess trash, and structural issues most concerns are brought to their attention by neighbors.

Lima City Council held a third public hearing where people from the community were able to ask questions about the proposed 2021-2022 CDBG and HOME funding allocations. Following the hearing, councilors voted to approve the plan and to send it to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.